A/N: You'll get a real author's note at the end of this chapter but for now, all I have to say is Michelle's back!
Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine.
Never Without You
Chapter 6 – Director of CTU
6:00 – 7:00 PM
6:08:42
It was a staff briefing. One of many that he had been to in his career, but he had become used to sitting at the head of the table. Now, instead of focusing on what Edgar had up on the screen, Tony was splitting his attention between the presentation and Erin Driscoll.
Her daughter had died, committed suicide, less than half an hour ago. He hated to be so cold, but he had to be sure she was still up to the task of directing CTU.
"Using the alias Harris Barnes, Marwan worked at McLennan Forster for the last two years as a Senior Engineer. His most recent project there was the design and the development of the override." Tony already knew most of this, seeing as he had stuck with Erin or been in contact with the teams while they had discovered most of it.
Erin asked, "And before that?"
Tony answered the question for Edgar, wanting this meeting over with. He had never particularly liked staff briefings. "Well, here's a timeline we've pieced together; He went to graduate school in England, then worked for several years for a company outside of London. Now, it's not clear whether he was radicalized there or before then, but the one thing we do know is that from the day he arrived in the US, everything he did was about today."
This was all in the files that all of them had access to. Did they honestly need to go over it? Didn't it even seem a little cruel of them to put Erin through this after what had just happened to her daughter? "We don't know yet. We're taking a first pass at his records now. I'm looking into the possibility that he may have used McLennan Forster as a base to recruit his sleeper cells." Sarah elaborated.
This comment made Tony think of some of the things Dina had been telling him about the other cells. He brought it up as a suggestion to Erin. "And that brings up another issue. At the present time, we have over 80 percent of field personnel looking for Marwan. I'm just wondering if we shouldn't divert a part of that manpower trying to root out some of his other cells."
When there was no answer, Tony looked up from the files he was examining. Driscoll was staring into space, looking preoccupied. "Erin?" He asked, breaking her out of her daze.
"I'm sorry Tony, what? What was the question?"
Tony hid his worry as he repeated himself more slowly. "Do you think we should reduce the field load on Marwan?" She still looked blank and Tony felt a wave of sympathy for her. He used his experience as director to answer the question for her. "How about we take some of our people off Marwan but still keep a field of 60 percent looking for him? Would that work?" He prompted.
Driscoll looked relieved that she didn't have to think about it. "Yes, that would work."
She left the room without dismissing them or saying good-bye. Tony felt a mix of emotions between empathy for her loss and frustration that they now had a director who was not going to be any help. She hadn't allocated any of them new tasks and couldn't even focus on the crisis at hand.
Well, someone had to run CTU. He turned to the table that he suddenly found he was at the head of, standing up while everyone else sat. "Edgar, I want you to relocate personnel."
Thankfully, Edgar didn't question his authority. "Based on what?"
"Keep the people who have come in the last six hours working on Marwan. I want our most alert people focused on him." Sure, maybe the people who had been here longer knew more about the situation, but they could be filled in and he needed them to be awake.
"Are we going to ignore what just happened here?" Sarah asked, bringing up the topic he knew they needed to talk about.
"What do you mean?" Edgar asked, obliviously.
Tony clarified it for him. "She's talking about Erin Driscoll." He wasn't sure whether she should be given slack, or simply taken off the team because she wasn't going to be useful. Then again, he wasn't sure that his opinion would count for too much to the Powers that Be that would actually decide.
"She can't focus. She shouldn't be running this place." Sarah said decisively.
"Her daughter died a few minutes ago. Give her a little more time." Edgar replied, much more sympathetic.
Tony could see both their sides and watched them argue just as he had been arguing with himself over the course of the meeting.
"More time? Edgar, since when do we have the luxury of time?" Sarah demanded.
Edgar, however, was still adamant. "She's not stupid, Sarah. She knows what's at stake here."
Tony was just glad Chloe wasn't there. He could just imagine what she would have to say about Driscoll. He decided that it wasn't their decision and he couldn't have his staff … Erin's staff … distracted by the debate. "You're right, Sarah. We don't have the luxury of time. We have work to do, and our work does not include deciding Erin Driscoll's fate."
Sarah was more of one to challenge his authority. "I think we have to tell Secretary Heller."
Tony made his decision in an instant, the way he was used to making decisions. "No we don't. Not yet. Let's get back on it."
He left the room, worrying about the situation all the way out to the main floor, arguing both Sarah and Edgar's sides before finally forcing himself to drop it and concentrate.
6:16:12
The situation was brought to his attention again just a short while later when he was briefing Heller and Driscoll on new updates.
"None of our field agents at the Rockland building have been able to pick up a thread on Marwan. It's starting to look like he might have escaped, so I think we have to assume that the first thing he's gonna try to do is activate some of his sleeper cells." Naturally, the thing that Tony had suggested they expend more personnel on.
Erin was staring off into space and it looked like Heller was putting more attention to Erin than he was to Tony's speech. Not that that was remarkable, seeing as that was what Tony was doing too.
"I agree. They'll most likely launch a strike right away; create fear that we're still vulnerable." Great. Did these days never end?
They both turned to look for Driscoll's opinion, but she didn't offer one. Instead she said, "You'll have to excuse me. I'm not feeling very well." She stood up as though to leave the room, but stumbled and nearly fainted.
Tony was up in an instant and caught her with Secretary Heller at his side. They set her down on the couch, worrying and gentle. "Erin, sit down." Heller said.
"Are you alright?" He asked, letting his concern show. He answered the question for himself when he saw how pale she was. He picked up the phone on the desk as Heller poured her a glass of water.
Someone answered on the other side saying, "Clinic."
"Get me medical up here right now. Erin Driscoll needs assistance."
"Yes, sir." Replied the nurse on the line.
Driscoll protested, "No, I'm… fine. I don't need anybody. I just got a little light-headed for a second there." He ignored her words. Now that he had taken care of Erin, he had to worry about how CTU was going to be affected by this. Driscoll had to be replaced, but by who?
Someone from medical entered the room then. The woman walked over to provide whatever help was needed, but Erin dissuaded her. "No, I don't need you here. It's all right. I was dizzy, but I… I feel better." She obviously didn't.
Heller was the one to expound on that. "We'll take a break, get something to eat. Take Ms. Driscoll down and get her some food. I can handle the situation here while you rest. Come on." Tony was the only one who noticed the subtle way Heller was dismissing Erin.
"All right." Erin conceded, "That's probably a good idea."
They both watched her leave the room, worried about her and about CTU. Heller walked to the door and closed it before walking back and avoiding looking at Tony who had stood up. "She's going to have to be relieved of duty." They both knew it, but it sounded harsh when spoken. "Contact Division. Alert them to the situation and tell them to send someone."
Tony knew what Division was like. It could take them hours to send someone. They couldn't afford to waste that time with an ineffective director. The idea sprung upon him as though it had been there all along, waiting to reveal itself when it decided he was most likely to put it in effect.
"I ran this office for two years. I could take over for Erin on a provisional basis." He was a little hesitant at first, but by the end had convinced himself. He was determined.
"Forget for the moment that you technically don't even work here. You've been away quite a while. You're not fluent with the new systems." Tony had not expected Heller to simply let him have the job, but now that the idea of being director again had taken root in his mind, he couldn't just let it go.
"With all due respect, sir, you don't need a programmer. What you need is a decision-maker who knows how to stack up protocols." Now he was practically a different person than he had been for the rest of today. Being Director was something he knew he could do, something he knew he deserved to be given the chance to do.
Heller seemed to be becoming more convinced as well. "And you can do that?"
"Yes sir, I can." Tony said confidently. Being Director of CTU was quite literally the best job he had ever had or ever could have. The chance to be Director again had snuck up on him in the last half hour. Now that he had grabbed it and wasn't about to let go until forced.
Heller looked at him for a moment, evaluating before he replied. "Fine. Effective immediately, you're the Interim Director of CTU Los Angeles under my authority. I still want to contact District; have them send someone on a more permanent basis."
He had to spend a moment savoring that, the first part at least. He had never dreamed when Jack had first called him that he would be Director of CTU again. It felt surreal. Of course, there was that little comment at the end that stung a little, but Division could take hours to send someone over. Maybe he would even direct until the end of today's crisis.
"I understand, sir." He said and left the room hurriedly, assuring that if that smile did spill out, it wouldn't be seen by anyone.
6:27:51
Coming down the stairs had, surprisingly, not been all that different than when he had come down them as a temporary agent rather than temporary director. The only real difference was the way he saw everything in a more possessive light. Now, if only for a short time, these people were his staff, this was his agency.
He even got to talk to Jack again as director. It was all very reminiscent of a better time when he had been permanent Director of CTU.
Damage was minimal to this idealistic view when Curtis came over to him. "Tony." The man said, outstretching his arm to shake his hand. Tony complied.
Curtis took his handshake as an invitation to talk, so he started off. "What's going on with Driscoll?" He asked without much preamble or small talk except for that first greeting.
Tony eyed the man. From what he had been told, Agent Manning was second-in-command at CTU, which automatically made him untrustworthy in Tony's eyes. The only seconds Tony had ever seen were Nina, who had betrayed them all, himself, who would have deeply resented a situation like this, and Michelle, who … he had promised to stop thinking about Michelle.
Still, he would figure it out soon anyway, might as well get the animosity out of the way as soon as possible. Once Curtis had decided Tony wasn't going to be moved by mere threats, maybe he would back off.
"She's being sent home, Curtis." The man looked a little shell-shocked.
"Why?"
Now Tony was feeling slightly impatient and eager to be on his way. "She couldn't stay focused and she wasn't getting things done." He could feel Curtis's objections so he continued, "Besides, we weren't about to keep her here when her daughter just died." Maybe Curtis would fall for the guilt-trip.
At least he dropped that exact subject. "So who is running CTU now?" He asked. Of course, the man had to go from one touchy subject to another.
Tony dodged the question expertly. "Heller is calling someone to come in from Division."
However, Manning noticed the dodge. "And who's directing until Division sends someone over?" He sounded accusatory.
It was the tone that sent Tony over the edge. He spun around in the middle of the main floor and spoke to Curtis's face. "Until Division sends over a replacement, I'm directing CTU."
He could barely hide the victory that was so central in his mind. There was something inherently beautiful in that statement. Maybe he had been too confrontational though, because Curtis called Secretary Heller over then.
He decided to let Heller handle Curtis's innate dislike for him. He wondered if it was because he had usurped Curtis's rightful job, or because he was a convicted traitor. Thinking about it that way, he probably wouldn't like himself either.
"Excuse me, sir. Tony just told me you put him in charge of CTU." That wasn't exactly how he'd phrased it, but Tony supposed that it didn't matter. Either Heller would stick by his decision or he shouldn't have made it in the first place. One of the first things a good leader learns is to stick to his decisions. Of course, the second is to change their mind, but never mind that.
"That's correct." Heller said. Good, it seemed as though Heller was willing to fight this one out. Not that Tony assumed that he would do anything like letting him stay after the District Director arrived, but defending him until that happened would be just fine.
"That doesn't make any sense. He just got reinstated and I'm second in command." If Curtis hadn't been so calm and in control, that would have sounded like he was whining.
Heller's response made Tony almost-smile again. "Tony had Erin's job for two years. He has experience running the CTU, you don't." Experience running CTU that no one else had, not just Curtis. It sent another jolt to his mind, I can do this.
"With all due respect, Mr. Secretary …" Now it was just bothering Tony. He hoped this wouldn't be too much of an issue because Curtis was good at his job. Insubordination from that quarter would be distracting and would prevent them from surviving this day as well as they could.
"Relax, Curtis. It's just provisional until division finds someone else." He had to remind them all of that didn't he?
Curtis still wasn't happy. "For the record, I don't like it." Because they hadn't been able to tell that.
Heller seemed to have decided the conversation was over because he turned to speak to Tony. "What did you hear from Bauer?"
"He just arrived at McLennan Forster a few minute ago. He's going to call into comm if he picks any threads there." His mind was more on Curtis than the information he was reeling off. They all parted without another word, Tony watching Curtis give him one more scathing glance before making his way up to the office that was, briefly, going to be his again.
6:36:01
He had watched Driscoll dally over her office, soon to be her ex-office, for quite some time. The pity still raced through him, he was just glad she didn't have to run CTU anymore. Distantly, he was reminded of Michelle who had to run CTU while he was undergoing surgery on his neck.
He wasn't going to think about Michelle.
"Here are all the access codes to CTU and Division." She said, and Tony came back from the realms of memory happily, but with a jolt.
"Thanks." Tony said, trying to balance his joy at being in this office again with his empathy for Driscoll who was leaving it.
"If any of my personal stuff gets in your way," she said, trying to find excuses to linger, "you just have someone box them and put them into storage."
He nodded, feeling awkward. Sure, this woman had replaced himself as director and fired Jack, but right now she was a figure to be pitied. "All right." He acknowledged.
She pulled a picture out that was obscured by one of the objects on her desk. Tony couldn't help but look over at it briefly to see a picture of what he assumed to be Driscoll's daughter. Grief overwhelmed him, wondering what it must be like to lose a child when it had hurt so badly to lose his wife. And he hadn't even lost Michelle to death; he could still see her after all.
"If you need anything, ask Curtis. And if he can't help you, you can always call me at home." Even as he nodded, Tony knew that there was no way he was going to call Driscoll.
"Thanks." He said, not knowing what else to say. She nodded and walked down the stairs, head held high.
Tony watched her as she left CTU, melancholy at her position tainting the joy he would normally have felt at officially becoming Director of CTU again.
It only took him a few minutes to regroup and set the grief aside. Let the sadness be dealt with later, when there is time for it. It was a motto that most people who succeeded at CTU managed to beat into themselves.
And so he made his way down the steps into the main floor, managing to conceal all his grief, joy, and victory as he walked into memories of coming down these very steps to give hundreds of quick briefings.
"Could I have everybody's attention please? By now you all know that I've taken over Erin Driscoll's command on a purely provisional basis. All protocols remain the same, but I want updates from all department heads every 15 minutes. Other than that, I'm just here to support you. So let's get back to work." Experience directed his impromptu speech, reassuring them that he wasn't there to destroy or change anything but assuring them all that he was in control.
As soon as he was done speaking, Tony was on his way over to Edgar's station, already prepping himself on what to say. "Did you hear from Jack?" He asked, gauging the readiness of Edgar's response.
"He and Paul Raines are looking for Marwan's files now." Tony spared a moment to wonder how Jack got himself into these awkward situations. Working the field with his girlfriend's husband as his partner? Oh, well, that was Jack Bauer.
"Any promising leads?" He kept up the questioning.
"Nothing yet." Edgar replied.
He didn't sound too incapacitated. Earlier on, Tony had been reading some reports from this morning and had recognized the death of Edgar's mother. Now, he was just wondering when the other shoe was going to fall and Edgar was going to fall apart.
For now though, he could do with some loyalty out of his Senior Analyst. He had also realized when reading through the files that Edgar had only been made Senior Analyst earlier today when Driscoll had forced Chloe to resign. Something about her insubordination was quoted in the files, but he recognized it as being more of a, 'she sided with Jack, Jack was right,' thing.
Maybe he should call her back in later. Sure, Chloe O'Brien wasn't the easiest person to get along with, but she got the job done better than anyone else he knew. But for now, "All right. Look, Edgar. Before Erin left, she told me the one person I should rely on is you."
And he was sure Erin would have said that, had she been in any state to think about such things. However, he got the response he wanted. "She said that?" Edgar asked, proudly.
"Yes, she did. So if anything comes across your desk you think is important, I want you to bring it to me directly, all right?" Because he simply couldn't trust this staff after all the moles that had gotten into CTU in the past and they weren't the same as his old staff.
"You got it." Edgar assured him.
"All right, thanks." Tony said, leaving with one more ally than he had come with and setting off to check on someone else that could have more information on Jack's exploits in the field.
Even though he was talking to another analyst, years of mediating Adam and Chloe's fights brought Edgar and Curtis's dissenting tones to his ears.
He knew instantly that he had to do something about it. Curtis seemed to be trying to relocate Edgar's attention to a task other than the one Tony had him on. It reeked of subtle insubordination.
"What's more important?" Tony came over asking, pretending to have only heard the last lines of their debate.
"We've got 75 percent of our people on McLennan Forster. I need Edgar to help me find a thread on Marwan." The basic idea wasn't too terrible, but Tony knew that expecting their best analyst to help with a job that was chancy at best was ridiculous and he made the point to Curtis.
"No, we don't have much of a chance to finding anything on Marwan by satellite. Our best chance of picking up a thread is through those files at McLennan Forster. Stay on that." The last part was directed at Edgar, dismissing Curtis.
Curtis was unwilling to be dismissed though. "We can't afford one security grade analyst run over imagery?" He questioned, deliberately undermining Tony's authority.
Tony continued his rejection of Curtis's urge to fight it out, though he was getting more frustrated with each of Curtis's moves against him. "Yeah, one, but not Edgar. Put somebody else on that."
Curtis's last comment was enough to bring Tony to an all out response. "Tony. Are we trying to accomplish the same thing here, or is this about you establishing position?"
He had to scoff at that. "I don't need to establish position, I've already got it." He began. Tony was confident in his abilities in this area and he was going to make Curtis confident in them too. "Now, what do you say we stop wasting time arm-wrestling here? I respect your opinion, but we're going to disagree from time to time and when we do, we're going to do it my way."
This was his office now and he was going to run it without insubordination, no matter who should have been in command after Driscoll left. Curtis looked slightly cowed. "Fine. But I suggest you put more manpower into a data search for Marwan." It was an obvious retreat, though he still didn't seem happy about it.
Tony knew that Curtis was a good agent, and that he certainly needed good agents right now so he resorted to some placating. "All right. Grab a couple of people from image-processing. Work the satellites with them." He still looked annoyed, so Tony ignored the hurt he was causing himself and continued. "Curtis. Don't worry. I'm going to be out of here when this crisis is over, but in the meantime, I want the same thing you do. I want to find Habib Marwan, all right?"
Curtis nodded and Tony let out an internal sigh that that mess was over with. It was then that Edgar chose to become slightly panicky. "What's wrong?" He asked, having the familiar feeling of running from one crisis straight into the next.
"It's strange. All cell and land lines around McLennan Forster are out." Tony frowned, mentally wondering what could cause that to happen. Maybe Jack and Paul would know.
"Can we use their network to message him?" Tony asked, already pulling a chair over to the closest computer.
Edgar's reply worried Tony, "Yes. So far, the computers haven't been affected." Which implied that eventually the computers were going to be affected.
That was enough to get Tony rushing. "All right. Open up a window for me, would you?" He took Edgar's continual tapping away at his keyboard as an answer. A window popped up in front of Tony's screen and he typed into it quickly.
Jack, are you there? Tony.
He watched the screen nervously as there was an extended wait. It was just as he was dreading the worst that a reply appeared on the screen.
I'm here. Radio frequency is out.
Tony sighed at the unnecessary information. Why else would they be talking on their computer rather than a phone if the lines were up? He responded quickly, the tiniest bit relieved that they were both still fine.
Outside your building too.
Almost immediately, Jack was trying to help him figure out what was wrong.
Fixed radius?
He deflected the question over to Sarah, loving having a staff to delegate tasks to. "Sarah, do we have any data points outside that building?"
"I'm online with the phone company now. They're getting complaints as far as eight blocks from the McLennan Forster building." He was duly impressed, both by her connection to the phone company and the size of the zone. He sent the information along to Jack.
No, it's still growing.
Edgar shook his head, saying, "Well, most are still in experimental stages, but is there anything else in could be but an EMP?" Thank god for smart analysts. Everyone else in the area dealing with this mini-crisis realized the truth in Edgar's words as soon as they were out of his mouth.
Tony sent Edgar off to find the source just as he moved to do just that, and then he turned his attention to the screen where he was cheered by Jack's message.
It's an EMP. We found something and they must be on to us.
It was so perfect to discover things at the same time. To be just that good. He typed in a reply, only half paying attention as he focused on Edgar's search for the source.
We know. Trying to identify source.
He began searching his mind for other things that needed to be done while his team focused on their own tasks. "Sarah," he asked, thinking of something, "do we have any choppers in that area?"
She checked without question. "Yeah, one." She said.
"If that chopper's in the area when the EMP goes off, it's gonna knock out its whole electrical system and that chopper's going down. Get them out of the area, now." As she moved off to that, he rushed Edgar. "Edgar, where's this coming from?"
"McLennan Forster. I'm trying to get a position now." Then, even as Tony was about to hurry him again, Edgar continued, "Got it. The first floor, room 12."
Tony didn't comment, but relayed the information to Jack, wishing there was more they could do but knowing that this was the life of the analyst. All you could do was send the field agents the information and hope for the best.
EMP is on first floor. Room 12.
They all set in a tense silence that was filled only with scurrying to and fro to try and get their chopper down before it crashed. Tony realized vaguely that this was very similar to a million other times he had run comm on an operation, but the adrenaline was drowning out his memories for the first time in hours. It felt almost as good to forget again as it did to remember.
"One of our choppers are down." Edgar said urgently.
Tony felt the normal, swift wash of grief for the lives lost before continuing his job. "Send medical in now. Call all field teams outside the perimeter of the blast. We have to find Jack and Paul." With these parting instructions, Tony decided he should bring the new updates to Heller.
There wasn't much more he could do out their without a connection to Jack and Paul, field teams, and medical all on their way, after all. Besides, he ought to stay on Heller's good side. Tony was surprised by the thought when he was done thinking it. Maybe he had really learned something from Chappelle. Or maybe Heller just wasn't such an ass. Ah well.
He walked into the room breezily and in control, with no clue that he was going to walk out of it with his hastily fixed semblance of a life he had managed to fit together these last few hours shattered on the ground again.
As soon as Heller had hung up the phone from the call he was on, Tony began his shortened briefing. "Sir, we have a problem. Someone set of an EMP blast in the McLennan Forster building. We believe Jack and Paul are still inside."
Heller took it in stride. "I assume that's a response to our presence there. Someone does not want us to get a hold of Marwan's files."
That was the same conclusion he had come to at least. "Jack was able to pull some information before the blast, but we don't know whether it was Marwan or somebody else who set it off." It did mean that whatever Jack had now was probably going to be useful though. If it was dangerous to whoever had set off the EMP, it was most assuredly helpful to them.
The adrenaline pumping through his body was sucked out abruptly with Sarah's voice over the intercom. "Excuse me, sir. Ms. Driscoll's replacement arrived. She just passed through security."
It couldn't be over yet. Not now, when it was all starting to really matter to him again. Not when he was beginning to feel things again like he had before prison. He missed Heller's reply to Sarah as he focused on the intercom system to avoid looking at anything else. He didn't want to leave again.
"That was fast." It was all Tony allowed himself to say, fearing what else might drop out of his mouth. Did he dare to hope to be allowed to stay on longer when CTU was back under control? But did he even want to stay and watch his CTU be taken over by some flunky from division?
"We got lucky. Division had someone available with the appropriate qualifications and CTU experience." The part of his mind that was still working logically instead of being preoccupied with loss turned over the CTU experience part. Maybe he knew the person, if they had worked at CTU seeing as he had worked here practically since its beginnings.
The rest of him though knew that the idea of being director again couldn't last and accepted it grudgingly even as he wanted to reject the very thought. "I understand." He replied.
"Tony, I want to thank you for filling in, and I'd like you to stick around," a ray of hope lit up Tony's apparently grim future, "and assist Ms. Dessler."
And it all came crashing down. It was the sheer irony. He couldn't help but reject it, even though he knew subconsciously that it was her.
"I'm sorry, who?" His face twisted in a grimace and his voice was hoarse.
Heller looked up at him, concerned. "Michelle Dessler. Do you know her?"
Conscious thought did not have room to make itself known as he turned around in to see Michelle Dessler walk into CTU. His mind flashed back to the last time he had seen her, coming to deliver him divorce papers. And he could do nothing but take in the figure of his ex-wife, the love of his life who he hadn't seen in six terrible months.
The irony of Heller's question filtered through slowly, and his face twisted in sadistic admiration of the simple irony. Did he know Michelle Dessler? "I used to be married to her."
7:00:00
A/N: I hope you like that! First, thank you so much to all you kind reviewers out there, please read and review again! It's the encouragement that makes me type faster. For example, I just got a really nice review today that made me determined to finish the next chapter tonight. So here I am at one in the morning after typing 12 pages to finish off the next chapter! Thank you all! Second, I'm sorry that this took a while, but you'd be amazed at how difficult the next chapter was. It's very tense and I have to write it all perfectly becuase this whole section is pretty much my favorite part of the fourth season. Also, it's going to take me at least another week to get the next chapter up because I'm leaving for New York City tomorrow! I'm incredibly excited, but it means I won't get anything up until Saturday. Thanks again for all the beautiful reviews!